Ana’s been doing great over the last couple months… She’s really putting in a lot of effort this year at school, the 8th grade is a huge year. She’s on a pass/no-pass based on a recommendation from an evaluation she had last spring and from the teachers impression of how she was reacting to having a normal workload this year.

This fall she has a new set of hearing aids the lingering side effect of the chemotherapy she was on hasn’t resolved itself and from the reading we’ve done it may not go back to “normal”. She’s adjusting to the use of them, however getting her to use them at home is a bit of an issue as she really just wants to keep them in use while at school.

As I logged in today I noticed 3 different posts I was working on before but never finished or published… Most of it talks about her different appointments she’s had since the Spring/Summer. I’ll go though and edit and post those later. I’m mentioning these now because there are a couple of topics I’m going to get into where those posts would be helpful. ie growth hormone, MRI’s and general overall health.

Ana’s always been at the lower end of the growth scale since we can remember… however the tumor tossed an extra roadblock in the way recently. So when the idea of putting her on growth hormone was an interesting and difficult choice. But we forged ahead because she wanted nothing more than to grow and to not have another something of her life stolen by the tumor. So she started in April on the shots and has only missed one shot to date… and she’s growing! Not by leaps and bounds, but she’s growing… where she did no growth at all from 2006 to this spring. Where a normal 12-14 year old would grow a ton. She’s on track for growing 3 inches from July 08 to July 09, but I think with the recent spurt she might go a little more 🙂 She is having a slight issue with her right pinky finger where the tendons and muscles aren’t caught up yet and she has a slight bend in that last nuckle. It doesn’t hurt to move it straight but she is going to be starting some PT next week to get it looked at and managed.

The Tumoris doing great as we can expect for still being there… but with it not growing and remaining stable she’s got the green light to a year without another MRI. Every-time she has a headache or has a bad day we wonder if that wait till next summer is the wisest of ideas but we have our faith in the medical team and go with there recommendations.

Ana does have days where she gets tired more easily than others and has a hard time controlling her ever present double vision. (normally she controls it with the tilt of her head) She had one of those days a week or so ago but to help that were trying go get the 14year old to bed earlier, not such an easy thing to get done 🙂

After the Jump I have an update on how the rest of the family is doing and some photos of Ana, Nissa and Ana’s dog Carson.

So how’s the rest of the family been?

We have settled in nicely to the new normal of quarterly trips to the Twincities for different appointments and such. As of June my wife is just working part time it’s been a mixed bag on good and bad points with that. It didn’t help the depression I went into the end of August/September.

I became super burnt out from working my ass off for 2+ years dealing with travel, the unknown and work. I also had my largest client outsource a majority of what was my work to another graphic designer making ads and what was suppose to be a slight split to become a major one taking me out of the loop. That event where I felt I was part of a team became a matter of dollars and sense and was a very deflating event in our world. This spun into my other areas where I had a hard time even touching on this issue much. Rolled into a snowball and Joe – site/client/friend I just couldn’t continue and I feel horrible for not saying anything. Finally my family has got me back upright because they count on me to make it work and my know it all 12 year old Nissa got me off of aspartame with a ton of information and reasons not to consume pop’s/soda’s with the additive. Today I’m working on building a new project to hopefully bring the family budget back into the black. The secret project is related to Graphic Design/Advertising on a medium that seems like a no brainier.

Thankfully because of your help and other resources the medical bills are not what they were or could have been. But all the fighting for the health of our child and cancer we might not be able to dodge the mortgage issue that a lot of people are facing currently.

Nissa is doing great she turned 12 this last October and she’s enjoying dance, she’s not doing Girl Scouts this year but you can’t do everything. She’s really applying herself to school this year and should hopefully be a 3.0 or higher student soon. Grats!
Ana last week started Conformation at the church we joined this spring, she has also taken up fencing! We were shocked when we found a local fencing program and one that was very cost effective. we do need to get her some gear even though the teacher has what she needs she would like her own foil and protective gear. She’s also actively playing World Of Warcraft, she wants the expansion packs but I told her she has to get above a certain level first or it’s pointless to have them.

*a note about Carson – I’m sure I mentioned him before… he was a trade from a client of mine and if your looking for a totally awesome kennel to get a dog from check them out. He’s turned me into a dog person and the bond between him and Ana is amazing.

(I didn’t run a spell check so sorry if there are errors I just didn’t wanna shelf another posting and not keep everyone updated on our world.)

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on Monday, December 8th, 2008 at 12:50 pm and is filed under Life, Medical Updates.
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